Letting Go
by J-chan6
Summary: In the midst of her pain, one of the senshi must come to terms with her greif...and let go of a friend.


Disclaimers: I do not own Sailor Moon. Please don't sue.  
E-mail = Serenitys_Star@dbzmail.com. Flame me, praise me, do whatever. Just WRITE me!  
  
Letting Go  
Jewel of Venus  
  
* * *  
The students at Tokyo University were happily walking around the campus, some going to class and some going home. They laughed at jokes, waved to friends, and made plans for the weekend. All but one. A girl who stood out while blending in. She was about 18, with long blonde hair. Her blue eyes were dull, though they had once sparkled, and it had been three years since a smile had brightened her face. Three years tomorrow. The girl slowly walked to her apartment, remembering that day...  
  
@--"Ok, here's the scoop," Makoto said, looking out at the three girls who stood before her. "Rei and Usagi were here last night until about 6:30. They ran out the door and went two different ways, to go home." Minako held back a sigh. Usagi had told her all this. "Somewhere between here and the temple," Makoto continued, "Rei disappeared." With a huge grin on her face, Minako pumped her fist in the air.   
"Let's go find her!"--@  
  
The blonde girl unlocked her door and stepped inside. She kicked off her shoes and tossed her book bag on the bed. She stared at it and finally decided to clean it out. An hour later, she was sure that all the three and four year old school papers, projects from last month, and petrified cookie crumbs were gone, but she did a once over just to make sure. In the process, she found a folded paper that had been tucked into a previously unnoticed pocket. As she glanced over it, the girl's eyes filled with tears for a friend long gone...  
  
@--Minako read over the note one more time to make sure she was in the right place.  
Mina-chan,  
I really need to  
talk to someone. Meet  
me by the fountain in   
the park at 4.  
Usagi  
Minako sighed. Only Usagi would be late for a meeting she set up. Finally, she heard the familiar voice call her name, and saw the familiar blonde pigtails and laughing crystalline blue eyes.  
"Hi Mina-chan!" Usagi gasped. "Sorry I'm late!" Minako smiled as her friend babbled out an excuse. "You see there was this lady with a poodle and I tripped over it and the lady's groceries spilled and she made me help her carry them to her house and when I was done I ran here as fast as I could and you're not mad at me are you?" Minako suppressed her laughter and shook her head.  
"Only you, Usako. Only you!"--@  
  
It was 2:30 in the morning by the time the blonde girl finished her homework. "It's here," she whispered. "Three years. Three years ago today I lost them..." She drew in a shaky breath. Glancing up, she saw a tin coffee can sitting on the top shelf of her closet. Slowly, she stood up and grabbed it. Once it was on her desk, she drew out four items: a mask, a locket, a wand with the symbol of Mars on it, and a picture. A picture of five young girls and a slightly older young man...  
  
@--"Are you sure this'll work, Mamo-chan?" Usagi asked.  
"Of course it will!"  
"Well come on!"  
"Be patient, Rei!" Ami called.  
"Hurry up!" Makoto shouted. "We have to attack the picnic basket before the ants do!"  
"What!?!?!?!?" Usagi and Minako shrieked.  
"OK, everyone, pose!" Mamoru ran over and stood next to Usagi.  
"Here goes!" Minako called, and flashed a 'V-for-victory' and her 'famous' smile just as the picture was taken...--@  
  
Reluctantly, the girl drew out the last two items in the can and held them in her hands. First was a wand, much like the first one, and the second a red ribbon. She didn't know she was crying until two dark spots appeared on the ribbon. Quickly, the girl dropped the items to the desk and wiped the tears from her eyes. Without a second glance, she changed into her nightgown and got in bed.  
  
@--Usagi squealed as Minako hit her with a pillow and helplessly tried to retaliate. Makoto came to her aid, pummling Minako, until Ami sided with her and turned the innocent pillow fight into an all out free-for-all. Rei got in on the action with two pillows, and proptly smacked Usagi in the head. They kept at it for at least ten minutes, until they all collapsed in a fit of giggles.  
"My room," Rei managed to gasp, "Will never be the same!"  
And with that revalation came a fresh round of laughter, shared between friends.--@  
  
When the blonde girl woke up, the first thing she saw was the red ribbon. She sat up and stared at it for the longest time before getting up. She got into her closet and pulled out a high schooler's uniform and a pair of black shoes. After slipping into them, she pulled her hair back and tied it with the ribbon. She took the items from the coffee can off of her desk and stuffed them into her now empty bag. Satisfied, she ran out the door with her book bag and headed to the Crown Arcade...  
  
@--"Yeeha! I rock at this game!" Minako shouted.  
"Man, I crashed again! This thing stinks!" Usagi cried, lightly kicking the racing game.  
"Hey, Usagi-chan! Don't kick the game! You might have a klutz attack and break it!" Motoki called laughingly from across the room.  
"Sorry!" Usagi called back. Minako laughed as Usagi blushed bright red...--@  
  
The blond girl slowed as she came to the arcade. Panting lightly, she stepped inside.  
"Hello! Welcome to Crown Arcade!" The blonde girl looked over at the good looking young man who greeted her. She frowned as she looked him over. "Oh! You're a regular here, aren't you! I'm not really working here. My dad owns the place and I've been gone for a while, so..." The girl gasped as she realized who it was.  
"Motoki!" She grabbed him into a fierce hug.  
"Um...I'm...do you...do I know you?" he sputtered. She stepped back and gave him a sad smile.  
"You probably don't remember me." she said. Then, with a bit of her old self that had come back with the familiar surroundings, a bit that momentarily made her eyes sparkle, she flashed her trademark "V-for-victory" and smile before turning and running out the door.  
"Hey! Minako!" she heard him call after her. With a whoop of exileration, she ran towards Sendai Hill and the Hikawa Shrine.  
  
@--"Come ON, Mina-chan!"  
"I'm coming!" Minako and Usagi ran side by side towards the Shrine. There was no way Ami would let them miss study buddies again...--@  
  
Quietly, Minako slipped into Rei's old bedroom. She dusted off the bed and sat down, grabbing a "Magic Knight Rayearth" manga off the pile in the corner. It was one she'd already read, but flipping through it, she felt closer than ever to her friends and farther from the greif that had threatened to suffocate her the past three years. Finishing the manga, she put it back and tiptoed out of the room, heading for her next destination.  
  
@--"Man, I don't think I can cram another equation into my head." Makoto flopped back onto the pillows behind her.  
"Well, we've all been studying very hard," Ami observed, "So let's take tomorrow off." A chorus of cheers echoed in the room.  
"Hey! Let's all go to the arcade after school!"  
"Sorry, Usako," Minako shook her head. "I'm gonna work on my volleyball game."  
"I am having a study session with my quantam phisics class."  
"I'm going shopping."  
"Well," Rei said with false reluctance, "I guess I'll go with you, Usagi." Usagi threw her arms around Rei.  
"Thanks so much, Rei-chan!"--@  
  
Minako hung akwardly in a tree outside of the window she was trying to open. Usually, she would wait until dark before breaking and entering, but she considered this an exception. (AN: ^-^) As she struggled to get in, she heard voices waft up from downstairs and out an open window...a window easily within her reach. Feeling as ditzy as she was when she was 15, she quietly stepped in, only to step on a cat's tail.  
"Meeerooww!" Minako cringed and shushed the pretty black cat.  
"Quiet, Luna! Do you want the Tsukinos to come up here?" The mewling stopped and a lonely voice emerged from the puffed up ball of fur.  
"Mi-minako?" Another cat, white this time, ran into the room.  
"Luna, are you alright? I heard you..." he stopped, noticing Minako but obviously not recognizing her. "Um...Meow?" he tried. Minako smiled.  
"Artimis, you are pitiful!" she whispered with a muffled laugh. Artimis blinked his blue eyes and ran into Minako's arms.  
"Mina-chan!" Minako buried her face in his fur.  
"Oh, Artimis, I missed you so much!" She sat like that for a few minutes, cuddling Artimis. Then, with a sigh, she set him down and stood up. "Now, it's time."  
  
@--Sailor Moon fell, blasted into the wall.  
"I can't do it!" she wailed. Sailor Venus struggled to her feet, determination shining in her eyes. She went and dragged Sailor Moon into a standing position.  
"Sailor Moon!" Venus shook her lightly. "You CAN do this! We beleive in you!" Sailor Moon took a deep breath and stood up straight.  
"I'll try again."--@  
  
Minako stood inside the door of Usagi's bedroom, which had been closed up, like Rei's, for the past three years. With reverence, she slid Usagi's locket out of her bag and set it on the dresser. Then she opened the window she had tried to open earlier and climbed to the ground. She began running, heedless of Luna and Artimis's calls to come back, and didn't stop until she stood before three grave stones. Those of Hino Rei, murdered one friday night going home from the arcade; Tsukino Usagi, who took an entire bottle of sleeping pills so she could join her best friend; and Chiba Mamoru, who felt his true love's peaceful death and shot himself through the head.  
Minako fell to her knees and let almost two and a half years worth of unshed tears flow down her cheeks. She curled into a ball and let the horror of that day fully take it's toll. Sobs racked her body as she finally said good-bye to her three friends.  
  
@--Being careful not to show her worry, Minako helped her friends search for Rei. Suddenly, a scream echoed from an alley behind them. Minako's eyes went wide.  
"Usagi!" She turned and ran with the others towards the alley. It was chaos for a while: Usagi was sobbing incoherently and the rest of them were trying to find out what was wrong. Finally, Makoto slapped Usagi to get her attention.  
"What's wrong?" she asked. Usagi managed to stutter out two words before the sobs took over.  
"It's R-R-REI!"  
Slowly, Minako looked behind herself, and the sight made her want to scream. Rei lay there, stabbed numerous times, and dead. Minako got control of her feet and ran blindly into the street.  
"Help us! Somebody please help us!"--@  
  
"You have no idea how much I miss you, Usako." Minako said, sitting in front of Usagi's grave. "But I think I'll be okay now." She reached into her book bag and pulled out a framed picture. "Here, I brought you a picture. It's the one of all of us the day we had the picnic. Do you remember? You and Mamoru looked so cute." Minako leaned the picture against the grave stone. "You can keep it." She stood up to leave. Her eyes sparkled and a smile teased at the corners of her lips. "See you later, Usako. I've got three whole years of my life to catch up on!" She flashed a dazzling grin before running back towards the Crown Arcade. She didn't see the princess-like figure behind her. With blonde pigtails waving and crystalline blue eyes sparkling, the princess smiled and whispered five words.  
"I miss you, too, Mina-chan."  
Aino Minako had begun anew.  
  
@+---@+---@+---@+---@+---@+---@+---@+---@+---  
  
Well, I hope you liked it! All flames, comments and questions can be sent to serenitys_star@dbzmail.com. Just don't mention any spelling mistakes. ^-~  
Here's my quote of the day:  
"It's better to have loved and lost than never loved at all."  
It is too true. I know.  
  
~Jewel-hime~  
  
  
Dedicated to Chad 


End file.
